The new King of the Mountain looked lost to the sport. Bathurst proved he had to come back

Just six months ago, reigning Supercars champion Brodie Kostecki looked lost to the sport.

After walking away for personal reasons in January, Kostecki was replaced by Todd Hazelwood at Erebus Motorsport for the opening rounds of the 2024 Supercars season.

Now he’s a Bathurst 1000 champion – remarkably with the man who replaced him in Hazelwood alongside him as co-driver – in emotional scenes at Mount Panorama on Sunday.

“It’s a fairytale for Brodie Kostecki,” Fox Motorsport’s Mark Skaife said.

“To get all of this together … the complexity of winning a race like this, it’s extraordinary.”

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“The politics, the drama, the trauma of the commencement of the 2024 championship for him well and truly behind him,” Neil Crompton added.

“He’s earnt the biggest win of his career.

“Brodie Kostecki is the king of the Mountain.”

Kostecki was clearly emotional after his maiden Bathurst win, as he sat in tears inside his Erebus Motorsport Camaro post-victory.

“I saw the emotion there with Brodie,” Skaife said.

“He had to sit in the car and compose himself for a little while.

“It’s a life-changing day.

“I think when you think about his performance and the time he was out of the car early, by the time he got back in the car it wasn’t that great. They’ve had to work on the car and get (Brodie) back into match fitness.

“That qualifying lap yesterday (to get onto pole position) was absolutely world class.

“It showed the level of dominance.

“The mojo’s back … and when he’s back like that, he’s a very imposing race driver. That was what he did today.

“He put a big stamp today on this race.

“He will look at it later on and go, ‘wow I did a bloody good job here’.”

It took until April for the champ to be lured back behind the wheel for the first time in 2024 and commit to returning to the field – thanks mainly to former Supercars driver Paul Morris.

“Paul Morris played a very big role in getting him back,” Skaife shared.

“That needs to be recognised as a really pivotal part of this year for Brodie.”

The Bathurst 1000 win – which is now in the record books as the fastest ever 161-lap event – is an amazing feat for Kostecki on his road to redemption as Supercars series champion.

Mount Panorama hasn’t typically been a happy hunting ground for the 26-year-old, whose Bathurst debut ended in a poisoning scare.

But in his last endurance drive for Erebus, after announcing his move to Dick Johnson Racing for 2025 and beyond, Kostecki took victory from pole position – becoming just the fifth driver this century to achieve the feat.

“This win will be so sweet because of all the drama at the start of the year,” Skaife said.

“He hasn’t been in contention because he missed those first race meetings.

“To win Australia’s biggest car race is a life-changing moment.

“Throughout the course of the year, he’s got better and better.

“It has been a superb performance.”

And it wasn’t just commentators left in awe of Kostecki’s work.

“He’s an absolute wizard,” Hazelwood said.

“The work that he does behind the scenes in the workshop, he’s so methodical, he’s so smart.

“To share the car with him was an absolute pleasure.

“I’ve known Brodie since he was a young whipper snapper … we lived together.

“In my mind there was no other person I wanted to team up with at the Great Race.

“He’s just as good of an engineer as he is a driver.”